And A Baby Makes Three!

These past few months I have totally neglected writing on our blog, but with good reason. Nick and I have had big news to share and I was worried that I would let it slip out too early. We are officially expecting our first child. Little Baby Mauldin will arrive on (or around) September 25th. We could not be more excited and now that all of our family, friends and workplaces know as well, I feel like I can finally stop trying to cover up my slowly blossoming belly and spill the beans! We went to our first "official" prenatal appointment last week together and got a chance to see our little bean, wiggling around in all it's glory. It's amazing how advanced technology is today. We could actually see the baby's little eyes, nose and mouth and watch as it's tiny paddle-like hands shook up and down and covered up it's face. AMAZING! Here is the first official picture of Baby Mauldin. I promise many more to come!

We find out the gender either the last week of April or the first week in May (hopefully April...I can't find out soon enough). The baby has also already received some precious presents from family members and friends. I was so lucky to have my mom come to visit me the DAY I found out I was pregnant. We had planned the trip for a month and I had taken a pregnancy test and gotten a positive result the night before. I couldn't wait to call her in the morning and share the big news. I couldn't imagine a more perfect first week of pregnancy than having my mom here to share it with me. She was so excited she couldn't help buying up all the pregnancy books at Barnes and Noble for me to read and two precious presents for the baby.

Meet Lil' Peanut and Sweet Pea. The babies come out of the shells! We honestly just bought the lil' peanut doll first because my daddy used to call me "Peanut" when I was a baby. Then we couldn't help getting the other one, because we didn't want to be gender bias. So now we have the girl and boy version. They might make an appearance again on our gender reveal day at the doctor.

My Aunt Margaret and Uncle Bobby, who sent me boxes of books for every holiday and for every special occassion throughout my childhood, have already begun the time honored tradition with our new little one. On Valentines Day, a package arrived with a few surprises for our new little bundle of joy.

Three ADORABLE board books to read at Valentine's Day. I cried when I read You're My Little LoveBug outloud to Nick (which I love to do with kids books). It is so funny but sweet at the same time, plus it plays music and has a place to put the baby's picture. Being an avid reader, I am so excited to have storytime with my children and share my love of reading with them. This was the perfect gift to start their book collection!

The next weekend my parents decided to come up for a visit. They had been busy baby shopping already and decided to make a special Barnes and Noble run before they came. Many of the books that I really want to have for my children are classic books from my childhood.
The two books sitting on the table are actually Wee Sing CD's. Some of my fondest family memories are singing through these CD's with my sister and family when I was young. The two CD's here are Wee Sing Children's Songs and Fingerplays and The Best of Wee Sing. They have so many wonderful CD's for kids....I can't wait to collect them all. As you can see from the picture, many of these books are oldies but goodies! I really need a bookcase to start filling up soon!

On the day I got my ultrasound, my wonderful friend Donna, from Donald, gave me such a special gift. This precious picture frame which says "Now Showing" has a special place to hold an ultrasound picture. It is sitting in the counter in our kitchen right now and I can't help but stop and stare at the picture all the time! It was so touched that she thought of me and it really was the perfect present on a day I'll never forget!

The last weekend we had the chance to head to Longview, and share the exciting news with Nick's whole family. In the excitement I forgot to take any pictures, which is totally unlike me. Nick's parents had a fish fry and we got to tell many of his family members at once. I'm so happy to have the shared the news with so many people and not have to keep this big secret anymore!